Disclaimer:What's ownership? well it's something I sure don't have, particularly over DC comics characters.

Get ready to say goodbye to Jason! Now you're gonna see what certain results are from the past few chapters. *evil laugh* Warning, someone in this story's got a dirty mind. Maybe not always, but I know some people out there are that crazy to think that way. My response is the other person's. Ick. Oh, also a brief reference to 'Necessary Lies', my strangely most faved short here.

Where's Robin?

Ch. 19 – Night's Aftermath

Artemis glowered at the news report in her banged up hands. School was nearly over when she finally heard about Joker's plot the other night. And the rumor of four teenage vigilantes saving the party. She was going to kill Wally and the rest when she got back to the mountain. Could it hurt them to call her up and offer her a crack at it too? It wasn't often Batman allowed other heroes to operate in his city, let alone metas.

Sure her hands still needed to mend after last Friday, but an offer would have been nice. She lived in the Bowery, just a stone's throw away from where one of the bombs detonated. The drunk who lived just twenty feet outside her building commented on how it rained fish last night. She should have been part of that. She should have known who made that happen.

Instead she was at home sound asleep and completely ignorant of what had happened.

"This happened last night?" she clarified with a growl.

Bette nodded, breathing out slowly. "Yeah. Daddy was at the party and said Batman should have just gotten the clown his cake. How hard is it for him to get his girlfriend to make him some magic cake anyway?"

"I don't think Batman even has a girlfriend," Artemis stated, letting the paper drop from her hands. She was going to kill Wally later. How dare he not call her to help! This was her home town! Course no one but maybe Robin knew this, but still…

"But all those rumors says he and Wonder Woman are an item," the deb rebutted.

"They also say she's with Superman. Some people even say Superman and Batman are together. Are you gonna believe everything you read online?" The archer raised an eyebrow as she finished. All those silly rumors and she hadn't found an ounce of truth for any of it. If anything, the two main men of the League seemed to argue about methods and actions whenever they were together and not talking about a mission. And really, whenever those rumors were brought up around Robin, he'd scoff or laugh.

He did mention once that Batman had a thing for Catwoman, then that both Superman and Wonder Woman had relationships with non-leaguers. Who or what they were he left to their imagination. Rob seemed pretty animate about Bats with the Cat though. Weird.

Bette thought about it for a moment then gave an evil grin. "Maybe it's a three-way."

"Thanks for the lovely image." Artemis winced before she leaned against the gym locker. PE hadn't even started yet and she already wanted a shower. "Just the way to kick-start my afternoon. A talk on the big three's sex lives."

"Hey, have either of you heard from Dick?"

Both juniors turned to their classmate, raising eyebrows. Barbara Gordon didn't usually talk to them, but she usually picked socializing with them over other girls. Artemis didn't quite know why. After all, this was the commissioner's girl and she was a super criminal's daughter with an assassin sister. Bette made more sense since she was on the student council and on the right side of the law. But Barbara was a strange one. A strange high profile target who hung out mostly with the top level target in the school.

Speaking of which, "Nope. Why?"

"I think he's sick," Bette piped in, a small groan in her voice. Artemis smirked. Her first friend there didn't care much for Grayson in the slightest. Something about his jokes and being a sort-of cousin.

Barbara's eyes narrowed slightly, looking at her cell. "Really? Weird."

"Why's that weird?" Artemis asked despite herself. Other than a few brief encounters with the guy, she really didn't know him. Sure saved him once or twice (very high profile target that one) but at school they weren't really on speaking terms.

"'Cause he always answers my calls." Her thoughtful expression became troubled. "Even when he's sick. That guy doesn't stay still unless he's strapped to his bed with a concussion."

The archer couldn't help but to laugh a little. "Sounds like one of my friends at my old school."

The redhead gave a conflicted sigh before putting her phone in her shoe, securing everything in her locker for later. "Guess I'll try again later."

"Okay ladies!" their gym teacher shouted over the din. "Line 'em up! We've got the south gym today."

The two blonds gave heavy sighs before going to their places in line. Another Monday, another class, another piece of life. And Artemis still hadn't figured out what she was going to do to the others when she made it back to the mountain that afternoon. Wally was going to pay for not calling her. M'gann and the rest too, but he was first. After all, he's the idiot who shot Robin.

It was really hard to stay awake that day. Sure thanks to living further west than the others he got more sleep, but by the end of the previous night he was running on empty. Wally fell asleep in nearly every class that day, even gym. The only class he didn't nearly pass out in was chemistry, and that was because of the lab he was doing.

Every time he fell asleep he dreamt of the previous night's adventures. Taking that kid Jason home was the icing on the cake. The guy was almost dancing in the street the whole way there, shouting and cheering about how the two of them saved Crime Alley.

"That was so freakin' cool!" he probably shouted for the fiftieth time that night. "Who knew that gum-away stuff could shut down a bomb?"

"You learn something new every day kid. This your place?" Wally had looked up when the kid started climbing one of the fire escapes.

"Pretty much." Jason scrambled up, swinging his legs upward as he went. During one of his stretches Wally spotted the tip of a batarang poking out of his back pocket. The speedster smirked. He ran into a Batman fan.

"What's wrong with the front door?" he asked as casually as he could.

The boy shrugged. "Nothing much. Just forgot my keys and don't wanna wake my mom."

"What about your dad?" he asked causally. Wally kinda wanted to tell the kid's parents how much of a hero their son was.

But all he got was an eye roll. "Who knows, who cares. Working for Penguin?"

"Dude, that's sad." How could this kid live with this kind of attitude? Didn't he care at all for his dad?

"Beats working for Joker or Two-Face." Jason shrugged, pretending not to care. "I hear they kill their men for no real reason. Penguin actually treats his men like employees. It's only if they squawk that he gets someone to kill ya. If they get busted, they're off the hook. It better be Penguin this time."

This time Wally detected the worry in the kid's voice. He did care for his dad. He just didn't want to think about it. Frankly the speedster would feel the same if his dad was into crime. Oh crap! This kid's dad's a criminal! Minor one for sure, but still…

How did the son of a criminal turnout to be a hero for Crime Alley?

"Well, this is my stop!" Jason jerked Wally out of his thoughts. The kid gave a cert salute, grinning down on him from the fire escape. He managed to get high above the speedster while he was thinking. "Til next time 'Easton', or do you prefer Kid Flash? Either way, it was a blast."

With that, he darted into the building, leaving Wally in the cold, literally. The teen couldn't help but to laugh at the kid's antics. This kid could give Robin lessons on cheekiness.

Jerking out of his drowsy stupor, Wally debated ditching his last class and hiding out in the nurse's office to sleep. Course then his parents would be notified and then they'd know he wasn't sleeping at the mountain, but he'd be rested. He figured he was screwed with his uncle. Bats would definitely tell him now. There was only so much the man would tolerate, and kids were pretty much the guy's weakness. Wonder what the guy would make them do as punishment.

Okay, forget the mountain, Wally thought, realizing this thinking was becoming more and more scattered as the day dragged on. When school's out, I'm crashing in my bed.

Conner buried himself in his homework as he waited for Megan to finish her cheer practice. He was saved from her temper due to exhaustion after they arrived back in the mountain last night and this morning. But he had a feeling his luck wasn't going to last much longer. He really had to figure out a way to apologize to her, and hope she'd accept it more than the feeble one he gave the previous night when she found him and Wally.

Still… As he peaked up to watch the Bumble Bees doing their routine, he could see the girl's exhaustion. The clone might get another day or so before her earlier anger finally reached him. Then again they hardly spoke to each other since meeting up once more. Maybe she was giving him the silent treatment. Was she the type to do that to him? Would she rather yell at him or make him agonize over her not talking to him?

Thinking about all this hurt the kryptonian's head. Girls were so complicated. And it didn't help that they were both aliens. Did Superman have to deal with this?

Bruce Wayne nursed his fourth cup of coffee that day as he made his way back to his office. The events of last night played in his mind a few times despite corporate matters throughout the day. Money never sleeps, and neither did he, or the Joker.

As he settled behind his large desk, he tapped a hidden panel, securing the room. Within moments a holoscreen appeared on his desk, allowing him access to multiple computers he set up. Everything from Mount Justice to the Watchtower to his home base was connected to this server, given he applied the right codes. Standing access invited trouble whenever Dick was left alone in that room.

Despite needing to focus on Joker's latest plot and trying to figure out what Scarecrow might be planning in the near future, Bruce found his mind and eyes wander over to a picture of Dick on is desk. That mischievous smirk taunted him when the photo was taken, telling the man he had done something to amuse himself later. That particular prank turned his mouth green for two days. Clever kid.

An ache welled inside the billionaire's chest. When would he be on the receiving end of his pranks again? It was nearly four days now. Four days since he heard the kid's laughter or inane wordplay. Did he really have to wait out the week to get his boy back?

His hands moved before he even registered what he was going. Thankfully his mind woke up before the other end picked up, audio only. "Stewart, Gardner, what's your status?"

"We should be rendezvousing with Hal within the next few hours," John reported formally. "We're locked on to his signal."

"Bit anxious to get your kid back aren't cha Bats?" Guy teased.

The dark knight glared at the offending audio feed. It didn't matter how far away he was from that particular lantern. He never failed to offend anyone. Bruce heard a sharp slap and protest moments later, giving him a dark smirk. Count on John to correct the rookie in an old fashioned manner.

"We'll contact you as soon as we're with him," Stewart finished. Muddled grumbling continued from the other lantern but was ignored.

"Understood. Batman out."

His fingers flew across the keypad as the connection cut. One more call then he'd return to his work in Gotham. As Hal Jordon picked up, he heard an explosion. "Now's not a good time. Can I call you back?"

"Status?"

"Firefight with a few smugglers. I was just trying to hitch a ride to catch some zees and they thought I was gonna get them for contraband. Might be a liiittle late now."

"John and Guy are closing in on your location." Bruce prepared to reopen the channel to the other lanterns. Hal had to bring those tags in or his boy would be lost. And to do that he needed backup. "Hold tight and don't do anything stupid."

"No promises." An explosion went off behind him. "Take your time. The fun's just getting started."

"John," Bruce switched channels with fluid motions, "Hal's under fire."

"Understood. ETA, thirty minutes. We'll recharge on the road." The military man's tone was all he needed to reassure the CEO that all that could be done was being done. Quickly he relayed the message to Hal then settled back in his chair, deep in thought.

The Green Lanterns were having some trouble. The valued tags were in danger. If Hal broke one of them, he'd break the man's arm. If Guy did, it might be a body cast. John, he'd probably punish himself before going back into space to get another set, Hal tagging along this time. Oh how he wished he didn't have to rely on these space cops to get his bird home.

Bruce gave a tired sigh before rubbing his eyes, mentally trying to switch gears. Joker and Scarecrow. Joker was the bigger threat. He had to be found, and fast. The longer he was out of Arkham, the more bodies would mount.

For a moment he thought of the team and their actions the previous night. Wally's attempts at disarming the explosives along with Conner's inevitable setting one off reminded him of the neglected part of their training. He'd have to talk to Canary about it later. Those kids really did rely on Robin too much for the technical things, and he only knew how to disarm a handful of explosives.

Then there was the fact they were in Gotham. Judging from the zeta-tube records and camera footage from the cave, Conner was in town since Saturday evening. Wally just a few hours earlier. M'gann and Kaldur arrived Sunday morning in hopes of finding the two and taking them home. Artemis seemed unaware of any of this.

Though it was a stroke of good fortune they were there, ready and able to take on Joker's plans, they violated a direct order to stay out of Gotham unless called in. He'd have to take measures to prevent this from happening again. Then again, they had saved his life and the life of those at the party. They even managed to save the city.

Bruce rubbed his chin in thought. Joker was difficult to find to say the least. An extra pair of eyes was always handy when it came to him. Who knew how much time he had left before the maniac struck again, and this time made sure his plot worked? And the four of them practically volunteered to help out.

A sinister smirk grew on his face. Well, if they wanted to know what Gotham and her psychopaths were really like, then let them.

A/N: ha ha! time to see Bruce's more sinister side. *evil laugh* but You'll have to wait a bit 'cause I wanna get through tuesday in the story before posting more. =P

Bruce and the rest haven't forgotten about Rob, they just have every day life to take care of too. Babs would be the one to note Dick being missing. I think I may make that an issue later. She is a persistent one. Wave goodbye to Jason! I think he won't be appearing for the rest of this story. But he sure is fun to write! I'm putting him in other stories later.

So Artemis is ticked, Wally's exhausted and probably in trouble, Conner really is in trouble, and it's unknown how Kaldur and M'gann are. I hate having large casts. Too many people to manage. XP Hopefully I can manage to juggle the next couple days and them before i bring Robin home. And I am going to solve the cases before I get him home. I refer to these cases in 'Without Me' so I have to tie them up. Still haven't figured out how to tie up another one. XP Til next time!